Unsung Chords
by motown lady
Summary: Lee and Amanda become a song writing team to search for NATO plans.
1. Chapter 1

Unsung Chords

It was just after the Elizabeth Sullivan case that things were changing for Lee and Amanda.

They had dinner at his place, & no shop talk. It was strange and yet exhilarating for the two, who obviously had feelings for one another, but couldn't, for various reasons, known only to them, bring them to the surface.

The next morning, Billy summoned the two to his office for a meeting. They sat across from him, waiting for him to finish his phone conversation. When he did, he looked at them, and smiled.

Lee and Amanda were perplexed by his expression. He said to them,"Sonny and Cher."

Lee said,"What about them?" Billy then said,"Marvin and Tammi."

Amanda nodded,"Yeah, they were great, too, but-.."

Billy then said," Elton and Kiki Dee."

With that, Lee and Amanda both got up. Lee said,"I've gotta get my report done.."

Amanda said, "Yeah, I've got files to straighten out.."

Then Billy, in a booming voice, said,"Sit down now, Leo and Annie!"

Lee and Amanda were stunned! Lee said,"What?"

Billy motioned them to sit again, and said,"Remember Gary and Jean from Baltimore- the songwriters who infiltrated the NATO plans, sending them to the KGB a month ago?"

Amanda looked at Lee, and sighed,"What a mess.. their poor families never saw them again..."

Lee swallowed hard,"Yeah, Gary was a great guy.."

Billy said,"Well, the plans are back in the US, but we haven't been able to figure out where- the rumors are flying that the plans are hidden in song sheets.."

Amanda shook her head,"I don't get it- the notes or the lyrics, sir?"

Billy smiled," No one knows for sure, Amanda- but we have a team out in the West Coast checking, and I'll have you two checking as Leo and Annie.. tell me, do either of you sing?"

Lee guffawed! "No way in hell! I mean, I hum in the shower, but.."

He looked over at Amanda, who stayed quiet. "Amanda? What about you?"

Amanda shrugged,"I've sung in church with other people, but I wouldn't be able to cut an album to save my life.."

Billy nodded, "Ok, in order to make this work, we'll have Leatherneck writing, and Francine will help you hone up your singing skills..come with me, both of you.."

They went to the other side of the Agency, and to what looked to be an auditorium!

Amanda had never seen anything like it! "Oh,my.."

Billy said, nodding,"Yes, it is impressive- we use it mostly for government meetings, but for this case, it's all yours..all right, people, get to work- check in with me in a few days.."

He left, and Francine said,"Leatherneck will be joining us shortly, but for now, we should probably start with scales.."

Francine went to the piano on the stage, and begin singing as she played the notes,"Do, rei,me, fa sol,la, ti do-."

Amanda remembering suddenly, the film, "The Sound Of Music", began to sing,"Do-mi-mi, mi-so-so, rei-fa-fa, la-ti-ti-.."

Suddenly, Francine joined her,"Doe a deer, a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun, me a name I call my self, far, a long, long way to run.."

Lee, groaning, saw Leatherneck coming in, and said,"Finally! Can you stop their incessant caterwauling, please, man?!"

Leatherneck smiled, and whistled above their singing, and they stopped! Francine shook her head, saying,"My, my, there's always a critic- ok, Scarecrow, what do you wanna try?"

Amanda put up a hand, yelling," Oh, no! I'm not about to do "Jumping Jack Flash" with this guy!"

Lee said in retort,"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm not about to do show tunes either- how about something simple?"

Leatherneck groaned, saying to Francine,"Are they always this disagreeable?"

Francine snorted,"Are you kidding? This is one of their better days.. c'mon, guys, stop- the sooner we come up with something, the sooner we can get out of here.."

Just then, Leatherneck spoke up,"Ok, look, I talked to the guy in Baltimore who wants a songwriting team to replace Gary and Jean- found out Gary only did original songs- how about it? You wanna give it a shot?"

Lee sighed, saying,"What do you mean by original?"

Amanda said quietly, "I think he means like when a bride and groom write their own vows for their wedding- I..I did that at mine.." She then got teary, and swallowed hard, saying,"E-excuse me, I gotta..!" She hurried out, and Lee followed,yelling,"Amanda,wait..!"

Leatherneck shook his head, and said to Francine,"You think they can pull it together? I told the guy we'd have something by the end of the week, even though he wanted it yesterday- did Billy tell them their cover-that they're a couple who are trying to work on their marriage? We found out Gary and Jean eloped before it all went south.."

On hearing this, Francine moaned,"Oh, great- just what Amanda would want- to be reminded of her failed marriage..well, hopefully, Lee can bring her around.."

Meanwhile, Lee found Amanda in her car in the Agency parking lot. He tapped on her door, and she put down her window,saying,"Sorry I took off like that.."

Lee shook his head, saying,"No, I'm sorry..look, do you want to try this again tomorrow, or-.."

Amanda shook her head." No- let's do it now- it was unprofessional of me to just take off..I'll be all right, really.."

Lee helped her out of the car, and she locked it before going back in with him. He said, holding her hand as they walked,"If you wanna talk about this later, we can.. you know, just between us,ok?"

But did Amanda really want to open old wounds? She had to figure a way to deal with this.. but how?

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Unsung Chords Moving Forward

Lee and Amanda came back into the auditorium, and Leatherneck said,"Alrighty, ready to go?"

Amanda said, nodding,"Yeah-sorry about taking off-I'm ok, though-so, where do we start?"

Francine said,"Well, let me play a little something here, and if you know anything that might make a decent song, let it out, ok?"

Francine began to play, and soon, Amanda was singing..

"Why didn't we know sooner, why didn't we talk it out,

I guess we really didn't know what it was all about,

Our hearts were connected, and we were friends, then lovers,

But in the end, it was all a tragic cover."

Amanda stopped, and everyone looked at her!

She shrugged,"What? That's the best I can come up with- can you do any better?"

Lee smiled, shaking his head." No, that,uh, that was great, really.."

Amanda glanced at him shyly."Yeah?"

Lee said, nodding,"Yeah.. so, great,we have a song in the can.."

Leatherneck said,"Not so fast, Lee- we need a little something from you, now.."

Lee said,"Whoa, I told you, I don't sing!"

Francine sighed,"Lee, c'mon, we can't sell what Amanda sung-it's not a complete song without you-remember, "Leo and Annie?"

Lee groaned,"Ohh, all right- gimme a minute.."

He walked around, thinking how ridiculous this case was, but knew he had to try.

He began singing,"The pain in my heart, was there from the start,

And I was afraid to let you in,

But with your warmth and caring,

You brought down my wall of defenses,

And, oh, how different things could have been.."

Lee said, looking at their surprised faces,"What? That bad?"

Leatherneck and Francine shrugged, and Leatherneck said,"We'll make it a demo-see what happens.. if the guy likes it, you go meet at his studio, go thru his sheets of songs, see if anything comes up.. good job.."

Lee cleared his throat, and said, "Uh, yeah, thanks for the help with this, but what about a title?"

Francine said,"We'll just label it Tragic Cover-we'll make it work, don't worry.."

A few days later, Leatherneck met with Francine, Billy, Lee,and Amanda in the conference room.

Billy said,"Well, do we send "Leo and Annie" to the studio?"

Leatherneck shook his head."No need- the West Coast guys nailed it late last night-sent the NATO plans to the proper authorities.."

Billy nodded,"Good work, team.. see you all tomorrow.."

Lee caught Amanda at the elevator."Hey, got a minute..?"

Amanda said,"Sure..what's up?"

Lee said,"Well, I thought if you weren't doing anything, we could check out Spencer's-what do you say?"

Amanda said thoughtfully,"Uh, ok, sure.. let me just go call Mother.."

They got to Spencer's in time for Happy Hour, but Lee requested a booth in the back, where it was a little quieter, and they wouldn't be interrupted.

As they sat, the waiter came over, Lee asked for a bottle of white wine to be sent over.

Amanda said, as the waiter left,"So, what's all this about, Lee? I mean, I thought you and Leslie O'Connor..?"

Lee sighed," We broke it off-.."

Amanda said,"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry-I know how much you wanted it to work..that's too bad.."

Lee looked at her, and said lightly," Yeah.." Just then, the waiter brought the wine, and two glasses, and poured. Lee thanked him, and the waiter said,"Ready to order?"

Lee said,"Not just yet.. we'll let you know though, thanks.."

The waiter nodded, and left. Lee said, raising his glass,"To another closed case.."

Amanda clinked her glass with his, and said,"Hear,hear.."

She put her glass down, and suddenly, began to giggle!

Lee chuckled,"W-what's so funny?"

Amanda said laughing,"Leo and Annie?!"

Lee joined in, saying, while laughing,"Can you just see it?! Our demo playing on a radio station?!"

Amanda nodded, calming down,"Oh, gosh, that was so-.."

Lee nodded,"Bad..I mean, your part was great, but mine left a lot to be desired, you know?!"

Growing serious again, Lee said,"So, the lyrics you came up with.. something to do with your divorce?"

Amanda sighed. God, he knows me too well..

She said,"Ok, I guess this is where I open up, right?"

Lee put his hand on top of hers, and shook his head."No, I'm sorry-I shouldn't pry-.."

Amanda said,"No, it's ok- it's just hard to talk about, you know?.."

Lee nodded,"Yeah, let's just order-.."

Amanda said,"In a nutshell, I thought we both wanted the same things- a home, children, a good life.. turns out, he wanted more.."

Lee refilled their glasses, letting her continue.

Amanda said,"When Joe went to the EAO, and went to Africa for the first time, that's when I invited Mother to come live with us, since I didn't know how long he'd be gone. He just couldn't understand why I didn't want to go along-c'mon, the boys were too little to be in that environment!"

Lee squeezed her hand."Hey, I get it.."

Amanda gulped,"Well, I wish he did- anyway, we'd argue about it back and forth, until it was obvious to us that we had to end it.."

Lee shook his head,"How did the kids take it?"

Amanda said,sighing,"Well, Joe wanted to be elsewhere when it went down-oh, he loved them-no question, but he couldn't take breaking their hearts.."

Lee shook his head,"So he wound up breaking yours..great!.."

Amanda said,"Oh, but I put my foot down on that! I said, "If you want to do this, then we do it together." So, that's what we did- it does take two to make or break something, but I'll tell you, it took a long time to stop blaming myself for the breakup.. that's why I had a family therapist when you were first checking my background info.."

Lee said,"I'm sorry you went through all that-hey, I didn't make you feel like you had to tell me,right? I mean, I wouldn't have done that to you, really-.."

But Amanda shook her head."No, but the case came up, and I was distracted- it would've been Joe's and my 14th anniversary coming up-gosh, that's a long time-ah, there I go again-.."

Lee said,"Hey, why don't we eat, huh? Then we'll go for a walk before heading home.."

Amanda smiled,"Sure.."

She and Lee looked over their menus the waiter brought over earlier, and decided to each get a salad, and to split an entree.

They left late, and Lee said," I guess you wanna get home, huh?"

Amanda said,"What about the walk? I told Mother I'd be in the editing room, anyway, and not to wait up.."

Lee smiled,"Ok,let's go.."

They went to their favorite spot- the Reflecting Pool.

Amanda said,"It's so pretty at night, with the stars..really beautiful."

Lee wrapped his arm around her."I know something else that's really beautiful.."

He then kissed her on the cheek, and Amanda blushed, saying,"Boy, You sure know how to sweet-talk a girl.."

Lee said,"Amanda-..?"

Amanda somehow knew what he was going to ask, and said,"Yes.."

She followed him back to his place in her car, and when they got into Lee's place, she took off her shoes, and said,"Let me freshen up.."

She went to the bathroom, while Lee went to make coffee, and put on soft music.

This was the beginning for them- they still had a lot of time to get to know more about each other, but it was definitely worth it.

The End


End file.
